Route 115's three-mile drag strip claims a life

Residents and business owners along Route 115 in Effort say several factors combined to create the tragedy that left 85-year-old Walter A. Machalick dead and another man injured after a crash Wednesday afternoon.

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By ANDREW SCOTT

poconorecord.com

By ANDREW SCOTT

Posted Mar. 16, 2012 at 12:01 AM

By ANDREW SCOTT

Posted Mar. 16, 2012 at 12:01 AM

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Pay your respects

There will be a candlelight vigil for Walter A. Machalick at 8 p.m. Saturday outside his home on Route 115 and Log Cabin Road in Effort.

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Pay your respects

There will be a candlelight vigil for Walter A. Machalick at 8 p.m. Saturday outside his home on Route 115 and Log Cabin Road in Effort.

Residents and business owners along Route 115 in Effort say several factors combined to create the tragedy that left 85-year-old Walter A. Machalick dead and another man injured after a crash Wednesday afternoon.

The downhill, three-mile section of highway between Sierra View Estates in Tunkhannock Township and State Road in Chestnuthill Township, combined with the lack of traffic signals along this stretch, makes it easy to speed when heading south toward the State Road traffic light.

The speed limit drops from 55 to 45 in that area.

"You can coast downhill and hit 60 or 70 easy before you even realize you're going that fast," said Raymond Behrman, who with his wife, Lenore, owns Hot Bagels in the shopping center at the bottom of that stretch. "There's nothing really to stop you if you're not watching your speed."

"It's very easy to go very fast," she said. "People think they're driving on Pocono Raceway."

Sgt. Sean Jennings at the state police Fern Ridge barracks, which covers Route 115, said he's unaware of that stretch generating safety concerns more than any other dangerous road in the Poconos, adding that there may not be anything that could have been done enforcement-wise to prevent Wednesday's crash.

James York, 50, was driving a 2004 Subaru Outback Impreza south, toward Log Cabin Lane, at 5:11 p.m. Wednesday, though state police have not said how fast York was going.

A woman who answered the phone at York's home Thursday and identified herself only as a family member said York had just dropped his son off at a friend's house. The woman said York later told her he "must have blacked out," though police have not confirmed this.

The blackout, if it really happened, was the third factor, causing York to suddenly drive off the road to the right as he reached Log Cabin Lane.

That's when Walter Machalick, 85, who lived on the southern corner of Log Cabin Lane and Route 115, was checking his mailbox, where the edge of his front lawn meets the broad Route 115 shoulder.

York's car hit Machalick and the mailbox, knocking Machalick 100 feet into a ditch, and then overturned multiple times before coming to rest in the front yard, facing north.

"I was in the living room when we heard the crash," said Machalick's son, Dennis, joined by other relatives and neighbors in the family's backyard Thursday. "We ran out and saw my dad lying in the ditch."

Gregorio Cespedes, a neighbor whom Walter Machalick had once driven to the hospital when a falling tree crushed Cespedes' leg, was in his home when Machalick was hit.

"My son ran into the house and said, 'Daddy, something's going on at Walter's house,'" Cespedes said. "We ran over there. I saw a car all banged up on Walter's property. Someone was screaming, and I somebody lying on the ground.

"I saw Walter's son and asked him what happened," Cespedes said. "He said, 'It's my dad.' That's when I saw it was Walter on the ground."

A bloody, dazed York had crawled out of the car by that time. Cespedes called 911 while others tried performing CPR on Machalick.

"Nothing worked," Dennis Machalick said, shaking his head with folded arms and downcast eyes. "He was gone. That mailbox gets knocked down three times a year by cars driving down this road. He was unlucky enough to be standing there this time."

Cespedes said it was tough to helplessly watch the elder Machalick, whom he had viewed as a father figure, die such a death.

"I was in tears," he said. "Walter didn't deserve that."

York was flown to Lehigh Valley Hospital after the crash and released Wednesday night.

York's tearful family member, who declined to give her name, said by phone Thursday that he deeply regrets what happened and can think of nothing other than Machalick and his family. She said York, who takes medication, had never blacked out prior to the crash, and she doesn't know if he was on any medication that would have affected his ability to drive at the time.

Machalick's loved ones are left with memories of a selfless family man, a neighbor and a gifted handyman.

"Everyone who knew my father loved him," said daughter Ursula Machalick. "He set an example for others around him."

Machalick served with the U.S. Navy for 30 years, during World War II, Korea and Vietnam, earning numerous medals of honor. He married the former Mercedes McArdle in 1954 and together they raised 10 children, moving to the corner of Route 115 and Log Cabin Lane in the 1960s.

"Ours was the first house on this mountain," Dennis Machalick recalled.

After retiring from the Navy, Machalick worked for many years in maintenance at both Split Rock Resort in Lake Harmony and Our Lady Queen of Peace Catholic Church in Gilbert, where he was an active member.

"Walter was a special man, a gentleman," said Split Rock Special Projects Director Chuck Dickinson, who knew Machalick for 18 years. "He was a hard worker with a great sense of humor. We'll miss him dearly."